True story, August 1999: A man with a felony conviction who had been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, Buford O. Furrow, bought multiple guns without background checks, carried them across state borders, and used them to shoot six people in the San Fernando Valley. One of the victims, an innocent postal carrier, was killed.

One of the injured at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills was my then 6-year-old son. After the shooting, I was shocked to learn how easy it is in America for dangerous people to legally buy firearms without any kind of a background check. There is a law requiring background checks for certain firearm purchases but it has a loophole big enough to drive an assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine through it, which is exactly what this felon did.

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the signing by President Bill Clinton of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. The Brady Act, as it is known, is named for James Brady, President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was shot and severely wounded during a 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan. The Brady Act established a background check requirement for handgun purchases, which was later expanded to include long guns such as rifles and shotguns. Under the Brady Act, federally licensed firearms dealers must conduct a background check of potential gun buyers to block sales to people who are prohibited from purchasing guns — dangerous people like convicted felons, fugitives from justice, those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, drug addicts, and domestic abusers.

It is a sensible policy and since the Brady Act was implemented it has prevented 2 million dangerous people from buying guns — from licensed firearms dealers.

Remember that big loophole? The Brady Act background check requirement does not apply to gun sales between private parties. Millions of guns are sold this way every year — off the record transactions with no background check and no paperwork required. Cash and carry. This vast, unregulated marketplace of private sellers exists primarily at gun shows and on the Internet, and maybe out of the trunk of a car on your block. The magnitude of this problem is staggering. During a three-month period, nearly all (94 percent) of the 170,000 guns posted for sale on a popular online firearms marketplace were offered by private sellers.

Private sellers aren’t supposed to sell a gun to someone they believe might be prohibited but that’s as far as it goes, and there is ample evidence to confirm that private sales to ineligible buyers occur with some regularity. Various undercover investigations have found private sellers who are all too willing to sell a gun to someone who admits they couldn’t pass a background check. Estimates are that about 40 percent of firearm transfers in America occur without a background check resulting in about 6.6 million transfers every year of guns that might be purchased by a felon or domestic abuser. That’s reckless, and the overwhelming majority of the American public agrees that a background check should be required for everyone who purchases a gun.

Numerous public opinion polls conducted this year found startling agreement among non-gun owners, gun owners, Republicans, Democrats, gun dealers, and members of the National Rifle Association that every gun purchaser should undergo a background check. Those with nothing to hide have no reason to object. Those with something to hide shouldn’t be given an easy way out.

Some states, including California, have passed laws that close some of the loopholes, but states that haven’t make us all less safe.

I know that advocates of unrestricted gun access are sharpening their pencils for a testy response. They will argue that they have a God-given right to own a gun, that the Second Amendment guarantees their right to own any gun with no questions asked, that background checks are a burden to law-abiding citizens, and, the well-worn mantra that criminals won’t obey the law. No law is 100 percent effective. Why are proposed gun laws repeatedly held to that standard? The background check process is not burdensome; nearly all checks are completed within a few minutes. I’ll tell you what is burdensome — dealing with the physical and emotional fall-out of being shot, or burying a loved one. That’s a life-changing burden.

Americans have the right to live in their communities without fear of being gunned down by a person who never should have been able to buy a gun.

Earlier this year, the Senate failed to pass an expanded background check law, and the House has yet to bring their bill to a vote. Meanwhile, the daily drumbeat of gun deaths continues. It’s time for the weak-kneed politicians in Congress to stand up to the gun lobby and pass a comprehensive background check system. Until they do, I propose that 40 percent of all U.S. Capitol visitors be allowed to bypass their security checkpoint.

Loren Lieb is a founding member of the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The chapter was formed in the aftermath of the shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills.

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